Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column where we let C-level executives and advisory firms from across the mobile industry to provide their unique insights into the marketplace.
Mobile device management was arguably one of the trendiest terms in enterprise security during 2012, but this year the state of MDM is rapidly changing.
The way we were
The necessity for MDM was initially driven by the fact that most smartphones being brought into work are personally owned, but the business-related data on those devices – primarily e-mail in the early days – is owned by the enterprise and needs to be properly secured. Protecting employees’ privacy, while protecting company data, meant creating an entirely new way of doing things.
Initially organizations were enthralled by MDM; Citrix looked to get into the mix through its acquisition of Zenprise, showing its faith in the technology. Allowing IT to have control over the vast array of devices being brought into the enterprise, MDM successfully protects data from those looking to gain opportunistic inside information. MDM has been so lucrative that companies, such as MobileIron, Good Technology and AirWatch, have been dedicated to providing enterprise solutions. But unfortunately, employees were less than thrilled at allowing their company IT staff to access anything on their devices at any time. Employees were concerned about their device being wiped and if their personal photos and music would be eliminated along with the corporate e-mail. We heard stories of kids getting ahold of the employee’s phone and attempting to type in the PIN, only to fail too many times rendering the phone inoperable.
The current state of affairs
MDM has come to a crossroads, as many new technologies do. Does the MDM bubble simply burst, leaving just the big name vendors in the space to adapt to the changing market, or does the technology die completely as it is replaced by something even better?
At this point in time, I would say that MDM has run its course, creating a situation where existing MDM vendors must adapt or die.
Don’t agree with me? Let’s take a look at the latest and greatest announcements in the bring-your-own-device, security and management space.
First, mobile containers are now starting to replace the need for MDM by enabling IT to place enterprise-related information in a secure containerized application. This secure virtual partition on the device is then the only thing that IT has any control over, leaving the rest of the device free to be controlled by the employee. No more worrying about the possibility of IT deleting precious photos from your daughter’s fifth birthday party just because you thought you might have lost your phone. The containers themselves provide built in policy management, so the focus shifts from managing the device to managing the container. In addition container technology can also enforce (and deploy) which business applications reside in the container, meaning that mobile application management – which MDM vendors have been pivoting to given the commoditization of MDM – like MDM is now being subsumed by mobile container technology.
Second, at Mobile World Congress 2013, Samsung announced Samsung KNOX, its comprehensive enterprise mobile solution for work and play. Essentially Samsung KNOX is another container and mobile application management solution that has been created by an original equipment manufacturer to be built straight into new smartphones, making it easier for IT to deploy and easier for end users to get their work done. BlackBerry’s latest enterprise operating system includes BlackBerry Balance, the company’s own version of a containerized application. Container solutions are now increasingly being driven by mobile device manufacturers, not by focused vendors as features to bolt on after the fact.
Death by OEM is a real threat that many pure-play vendors need to fight against. Why would an enterprise pay for a MAM solution when they can use one that is built right into the device? The game-changers now will be whether these pure-play MDM/MAM vendors can offer something that the OEM solutions cannot.
Innovate or die
Much like virtualization technology completely disrupted the server market and significantly changed the systems management market, expect a similar evolution vis-a-vis the mobile market and mobile’s virtualization equivalent – containers. Whether today’s MDM vendors are able to adapt will be an interesting drama that plays out over the next 12 to 24 months.
Tom Kemp is co-founder and CEO of Centrify Corporation, a software and cloud security provider that delivers solutions that centrally control, secure and audit access to on-premise and cloud-based systems, applications and devices. Under his leadership Centrify has become one of the fastest growing security vendors in the industry and has amassed over 4500 customers including nearly 50% of the Fortune 50. Prior to Centrify Kemp held various executive, technical and marketing roles at NetIQ Corporation, Compuware Corporation, EcoSystems Software and Oracle Corporation. Mr. Kemp was also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Mayfield, a leading venture capital firm. He is an avid blogger on both the Centrify website and for Forbes.com. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and in history from the University of Michigan.
